It’s a few days before thanksgiving when I speak to Stephanie Rovers at her home in Upstate New York. Her grandchildren are laughing and playing in the background as she multitasks prepping a family feast with our interview, as well as planning for her and her husband, Adrian’s, next adventure: a five-month, around-the-world cruise on a 900-passenger ship. The voyage will take the enterprising duo from Cuba to Thailand, arriving home by spring, just in time to launch their beloved Galeon 510 Skydeck for another summer of cruising around their backyard of Lake Champlain and beyond.

The Roverses are seafaring enthusiasts through and through. In fact, in the two years since buying the 510 Skydeck, the couple has amassed 600 hours on her motors and thousands of nautical miles under her hull, cruising from their Plattsburgh, New York, home into Canada, as well as down the Eastern Seaboard, across to the west coast of Florida, around to the Keys, and into the Bahamas and back. And while most cruisers would find a nice marina to dock at and rest after a day’s travels on a trip of this magnitude, this couple has another passion: golf.

Adrian says they plan their north-to-south route and vice versa to stay at marinas that have golf courses within riding (they keep fold-up electric bicycles on board) or driving distance. From Quebec City in Canada to Emerald Bay in the Exumas, the Roverses hit the links every chance they get.

“Everywhere you go, you have to get off the boat and get exercise,” he says with conviction. “It’s nothing for us to get into a marina and get our bikes or call a taxi, and go play golf for four hours. Then [we] come back and go out for dinner.”

And unlike couples who find that kind of freedom only later in life, the Roverses have always opened opportunity’s door when they hear a knock. They started their at-sea lifestyle aboard a 23-footer when their children were just kids. Stephanie says they took that boat up into Canada and all the way east to the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park to see the beluga whales.

The cruising seed was planted, and the boats began to grow with their travel plans. There was a 32-footer and more exploration north, west and east, and then a 42-footer that was the first vessel the Roverses took down the East Coast to their second home in Florida.

Stephanie says the first time they headed down the Hudson River and took in the Manhattan skyline from the water, it made an impression. “We had the same view that our ancestors saw,” she says with pride.

Their first night in New York, they cruised around Manhattan and up the Harlem River near Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx, and then cruised back down the Hudson, docking at Liberty Landing on the New Jersey side. The couple then completed the cruise down to Florida, and afterward decided that they needed a larger platform, one to expand their cruising dreams, possibly across the Gulf Stream.

The Roverses saw the Galeon 510 Skydeck three years ago at the Miami International Boat Show, and it was love at first sight. The way the side decks fold out to add entertaining space caught their eye.

“It goes from about 14 feet to 19 feet wide,” Adrian says enthusiastically, adding that with the way the boat expands, its usable acreage is “almost like an RV.” Stephanie says that everywhere they cruise, people come by and take pictures of the boat when she’s wide open with the bar stools in place. “It’s just beautiful,” she adds. Adrian says the grandkids love to fish and dive off the side platforms too.

Twin 670 hp Volvo Pentas give the 510 Skydeck a 25-knot cruise speed, which Adrian enjoys, especially when there is nice weather and they can pop out of the Intracoastal Waterway to run on the ocean.

“I can make the trip [from New York to Florida] in two weeks,” he says, noting that he is a Type A individual but still thinks that, on occasion, they should slow down a bit more and truly take in the journey.

In addition to loving the Galeon’s speed, Adrian likes that its canopy drops down, making the air draft just about 15 feet 6 inches. So the 510 is bridge-friendly — an important feature for the Roverses, since bridges near their home top out around 17 feet.

Adrian and I talk for two hours as he recounts their trek from New York to southwest Florida and over to the Bahamas. He recalls every stop with childlike enthusiasm and mentions the places he would like to visit again, such as Hilton Head, North Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach and more. Then there is the unexpected, like the night spent at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina and Resort on Lake Okeechobee while crossing Florida. They happened upon a fine restaurant with a great live band within walking distance of the boat, Adrian says with the excitement of discovering something fun and new.

He signs off with sage advice for aspiring cruising enthusiasts who have yet to single up lines: “You can’t be afraid, afraid to go, to try new things.”

Adrian Rovers says one of the things he likes most about his Galeon 510 Skydeck is the 360-degree salon windows. The glass brings in light and provides impressive vistas in all directions. He also says he pilots the boat from the lower helm most of the time. Knowing that he and Stephanie would be cruising to tropical climes, the Roverses tinted all the glass and increased the air-conditioning capacity of their vessel, ­ensuring that those cool views would come with an equally cool and comfortable climate inside the salon and helm.

When the weather clears and the fish start biting you want your boat to be ready to get on the water, with all systems and safety gear ready to go. Life jackets, signaling devices and fire extinguishers should be well maintained and in top shape. Take the time check everthing now, so everything will be ready for the upcoming season. Here’s the crucial safety gear and systems that need attention:

1. Batteries

Lead acid batteries that aren’t sealed should be checked for the correct fluid levels. Sealed batteries let you skip that step. Replace any wing nuts with lug nuts and tighten all snuggly. Sparks aboard a boat are never a welcome occurrence. Put the batteries on a slow trickle charge so they are full of juice.

2. Fuel Filters

Replace if due or inspect for corrosion, rust and water in fuel. Leaking gas aboard a boat is never a good thing, either.

3. Bilge Pumps and Through-Hulls

Check the bilge pumps for debris and proper operation. Inspect all through-hulls for water-tight integrity and ensure valves can be easily opened and closed.

4. Fire Extinguisher

Check fire extinguishers to see if they are still within acceptable range on the charge. The safety pins should be firmly attached.

5. Signaling Devices

Verify that flares have not expired. Those out of date can be kept for backup emergencies, but put them in a sealed bag and store them separately from the good ones. Check horns, flare guns and other signaling devices. Avoid tickets from law enforcement and be prepared in case these life-savers are needed.

6. Life Jackets

Check that you have enough life jackets for all aboard and don’t scrimp on cost. If you go in the water, you’ll want the best money can buy. Check for rips and dry rot and secure straps. On automatic inflatables, check the CO2 cartridges for integrity/expiration.

7. EPIRB/PLB

If you carry one of these devices, check for battery life and any possible updates or recalls. Make sure they are securely mounted and easily accessible.

8. Ditch Bag

A ditch bag can be another life-saver. Stock one with a waterproof VHF radio, day and night signaling devices, a short section of nylon rope, first aid basics, a survival knife and some water and high-protein snacks.

9. First Aid Kit

Make sure the essentials are included and haven’t expired or gotten damp or mildewed.

10. Emergency Repair Kit

Keep a few repair items in a waterproof container. Zip ties, hose clamps, electrical tape and electrical connectors may come in handy for a quick fix if something fails.

11. Boat Documentation

Keep the boat paperwork all together in a sealed container. Registration, proof of insurance, fishing licenses and towing service information are all necessary items.

The Kokatat Leviathan retails for $159 and has just about everything a kayak angler could want built in.

Have you ever wondered what the Cadillac of kayak fishing lifevests is? The Kokatat Leviathan may likely be it. The feature rich PFD has pockets for days, attachment points on nearly every flat surface and includes some subtle touches that many other lifejacket companies just don’t spend the time and money to incorporate. The biggest question though is how did it handle through the testing phase?

About the Kokatat Leviathan

From Kokatat: The ultimate kayak fishing life vest, the Leviathan has 14 pockets and multiple fixture options allowing anglers to carry lures, tools and gear wherever they choose. This high-back, performance, recreational life vest features body-mapped Gaia® foam panels contoured precisely to allow the life vest to wrap the torso in a secure fit. Gaia® is completely free of CFC ozone depleting chemicals. This recyclable foam is very flexible, taking and retaining the shape of your body for a comfortable, custom feel. Fleece-lined hand warmer pockets are a bonus for those chilly days. To accommodate the high seat backs in most fishing kayaks, the Leviathan features a high-back design with quick drying Ariaprene mesh lower back.

The Good

The first thing you notice when you see the Kokatat Leviathan is pockets. The Leviathan has room for everything you want to keep on you. I like to keep my wallet, keys, and phone on my person in case I get separated from my kayak for some reason. I can do all that and still have 11 pockets left. The abundance is perfect for folks who wade outside of their kayaks because you can store lots of additional tackle in all those places. If you like to fly fish, it has fly drying foam too. The attachment points for a knife and pliers is really nice and out of the way so it won’t intrude with your casting.

The back floatation and hex vent mesh material hit all the right notes.

The eco-friendly foam that lends its floatation properties to the Kokatat Leviathan are a great bonus. You can tell that the foam has been placed in front and back to not be intrusive. For those like me with a belly, the frontal foam rides a little higher than some other vests so it doesn’t fit awkwardly tight in some areas of your torso and loose in others. Multiple adjustment points also make this an easy fit for almost all paddlers. The floatation foam in the back is placed high and didn’t hit the frame of my kayak chair. The hexagonal, alternating mesh that makes up the rest of the back breathes really easy and was nice on the warmer Texas days I was able to get out for testing with an average of 78 degrees.

As an aside, I also like that the Leviathan comes in color ways for men and women.

The Gray, Women’s version of the Kokatat Leviathan (though I think I could totally rock that color).

Room for Improvement

The biggest reason this kayak PFD won’t be on every single kayak fisherman’s wish list this year is the price point. At $159 for a Type III lifejacket, it will simply be out of reach for lots of folks who will likely lean toward sub-$100 offerings.

As far as functionality, the fleece lined pockets weren’t of any use to me and I worry they might get a little funky with fish slime and other fishing messes over time. I’d offer a version without it for us Southerners who rarely see months of freezing temps and merely have to withstand a couple of weeks of temps in the 30s.

While the hex mesh in the back is great at ventilation, the foam up front had me sweating pretty quick. Understanding Kokatat is probably best known for dry suits, it lends itself to expect the Leviathan has been vetted in places that are cooler climates than Texas. From November to the first part of March the Leviathan would be awesome on the water. After that, it might be a temptation to take it off in temps above say 80 degrees. I’d love to see the Kokatat “Kraken” or some other fitting name in a thinner foam for us warm weather year ’round folks.

Final Thoughts

If you love storage and attachment points in your PFDs, want something that can work for conventional and fly fishing, and works for wade fishing too, the Kokatat Leviathan is a lifejacket you should check out. The price point is on the higher end for these styles but if you only want to buy once, buy right the first time. To see more about the Kokatat Leviathan click here.

Rossinavi has launched the 206-foot Utopia IV at its shipyard in Italy. Previously known as Project Vector, she is being finalized for an American client.

Exterior and interior design — inspired by automotive design — are by Venice-based Enrico Gobbi at Team4Design. Though Utopia IV is most decidedly a yacht, she’s intended to have lines reminiscent of a speedboat.

Four 2,600-horsepower MTU 16V 2000 M96L engines paired to quadruple hydro jets push her to a top speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 15 knots. She can reportedly hit 18 knots using only 35 percent of her propulsion power.

Accommodations are for 12 guests in six staterooms. The owner’s suite has a nearly 20-foot-long balcony and sole-to-ceiling windows.

More key features: A pair of 13-foot sliding glass doors in the salon; three swimming pools on deck; a touch-and-go helipad; and a 750-square-foot beach club aft.

A school of mullet milled around a spoil island in the Indian River as we eased into cast-net range with our skiff, and then things went crazy.

Mullet went airborne and the water exploded as a school of jacks attacked the baitfish. I yelled at my friend to grab one of the spinning rods and throw a lure — any lure — into the feeding frenzy.

Seconds later, a hole opened in the surface as a 20-pound jack smashed the swimming plug. Twenty minutes later, after the fish had taken us across the river and back, my friend, breathing heavily, released the jack not far from where he’d hooked it.

Encounters like these, when silver mullet are migrating north, are the ­surest sign that spring has arrived in South Florida.

Not as extensive as the fall mullet run, when acres of silver, black and finger mullet swim south off Florida’s beaches and in its rivers and bays, the spring mullet run is nevertheless a cherished occurrence for fishermen pursuing everything from tarpon and snook to sailfish and dolphin.

KickoffCapt. Glyn Austin uses live finger mullet as well as topwater lures and jerkbaits in the Indian River from Grant to Vero Beach during the spring mullet run.

“Typically, depending on the cold fronts, that mullet run starts in late March into April,” Austin says. “What they do is move in and get into pretty much all the little coves and the flats around Sebastian Inlet, several miles north and south, and they get in along the mangroves.

“It’s a good time to fish topwaters. We’ve still got cooler water temperatures. It’ll warm up a little bit, but it doesn’t get as hot as it does during the fall mullet run, so we use topwaters all day.”

Read Next: Fishing With Live Bait

Austin fishes his usual spots in the ­river, such as mangrove shorelines and spoil islands that were created when channels were dredged, instead of searching for mullet schools.

If the mullet are there, great. If not, he’ll move to the next spot. His favorites include Black Point, south of Sebastian; Campbell’s Pocket, which is close to Sebastian Inlet; and Coconut Point and Mathers Cove, which are north of the inlet.

“All those areas are going to hold mullet during the spring run,” Austin says, “and they’ll have nice trout, some redfish, bluefish, jacks and snook.

“I fish mangrove shorelines that are holding the bait, and I fish in the trees with artificials as much as I can. ­Typically, the snook and reds are tight to trees. Jacks, bluefish and trout are under the schools.”

Austin’s favorite topwater lure for all those species is a Rapala Skitter Walk. He also uses two Rapala subsurface lures, the X-Rap Twitchin’ Mullet and X-Rap Twitchin’ Minnow, which he likes because they each have two single hooks instead of a pair of treble hooks.

When fishing mangrove shorelines, docks and other areas with obstructions, where the fish have to be pulled out and away from the structure, Austin arms his customers with spinning tackle up to the task, 20-pound class, with beefier leaders to move the fish and avoid cutoffs. In more open, shallower water, where the fish are free to run, he opts for lighter tackle, in the 10-pound class, for increased casting distance.

“I like the lighter setup because you can cast farther,” Austin says. “A lot of times you get out there and those schools of mullet are way out on the flat and the fish are in there with them.”

If the weather is nice and seas are calm, Austin ventures out of Sebastian Inlet and sight-fish the beaches with lures or live mullet for blacktip sharks, which are migrating with the mullet.

Most of the time, he’s in the river, where highlights this time of year include gator trout — seatrout weighing 5 or more pounds — that are gorging themselves on mullet. And you never know when you might catch the fish of a lifetime like the woman from Minnesota who caught a 43-inch snook fishing with Austin around a spoil island.

Banner Days“Some of the most exciting kite-fishing I’ve ever had has been during the spring mullet run,” says Capt. Bouncer Smith of Miami Beach. “We once had 23 shots at sailfish on a half-day trip fishing with live mullet that we’d caught inside Haulover Inlet. In the springtime, if you have silver mullet, something’s going to eat them.”

Smith, who fishes out of Miami Beach Marina, says inshore anglers can catch big barracuda, tarpon, snook and jacks in Biscayne Bay during the spring mullet run, which is typically best from April 1 to the middle of May.

“My favorite replication of a mullet was always the Zara Spook,” Smith says. “A large walk-the-dog plug is really, really deadly for mimicking mullet being chased.”

Smith says he prefers to cast-net mullet with a 10- to 12-foot net with 1- to 1¼-inch mesh and take them offshore. A big net is needed because the mullet schools are typically spread out in the spring.

He usually finds the baitfish by Key Biscayne’s Crandon Park Marina and Hurricane Hole, and on the flats by Haulover Park in North Miami Beach.

“Even today, mullet are still one of the overlooked but prime kite baits,” Smith says. “Kingfish, sailfish, dolphin, blackfin tuna, cobia, grouper — every­thing jumps all over a live mullet. And there’s nothing more exciting than a ­slow-trolled mullet for tarpon.”

Smith says that if you’re not kite-fishing along a color change with live mullet, then trolling is the best way to fish them, although if the current is ripping, you can fish mullet from an anchored boat. If you drift with live mullet, the baitfish will invariably swim toward the boat, the line trailing behind them.

When he fishes for tarpon, Smith bridles mullet to an 8/0 VMC circle hook, puts them out at different distances, and trolls them at about a mile an hour in Biscayne Bay, ­Government Cut and just outside the inlet. At times, Smith has had up to a dozen tarpon chasing those baits behind his boat.

Span TimeIn the Florida Keys, the spring mullet run coincides with tarpon season, which has many fishing guides running two and three trips a day using silver mullet for bait.

“We fish them live around the bridges for tarpon,” says Capt. Rick Stanczyk, who fishes out of Bud N’ Mary’s Marina in Islamorada. “They’re definitely tuned into the mullet. Usually, it starts in March and goes into April and sometimes into May.”

Keys tarpon guides like Stanczyk catch their own mullet or buy them from commercial bait fishermen.

“Having live mullet that are as fresh and lively as possible helps,” says Stanczyk, who uses 60-pound spinning outfits to both handle the oversized live baits and gain and maintain control of the tarpon in the strong currents that run though the bridge spans.

“That 60-pound mono just gives it a little extra bit of stretch, so they don’t throw the hook as often when they jump. With the braid, you have enough line that you’re not going to get spooled,
and it’s pretty ­abrasion-resistant, especially around bridge pilings.”

While fishing for tarpon around bridges, Stanczyk sometimes catches jacks, barracuda, sharks and even snook. When he fishes well back in Florida Bay, snook, redfish and trout will eat live mullet intended for tarpon. Not surprisingly, his customers are not disappointed by those catches.

Tackle UpIn the Florida Keys, Stanczyk fishes live mullet for tarpon on spinning rods spooled with 50-pound braided line and 10 to 15 feet of 60-pound mono attached to 7 or 8 feet of 80- to 100-pound leader.
On calm days, he uses mono or fluoro leaders as light as 50-pound and hooks the mullet through the nose on a 6/0 or 7/0 hook.

Read Next: Rig a Split-Tailed Mullet

In the Indian River, around Sebastian, Austin fishes topwater lures and jerkbaits on 7-foot ­spinning rods. If he’s fishing in the open, his outfits carry 10-pound braided line with a 20-pound mono leader to facilitate longer casts. Around mangrove shorelines and docks, he uses 15- or 20-pound braid with a 30-pound leader. When he fishes live finger mullet, he puts them on a 4/0 J hook or a 5/0 circle hook.

Go Get ‘EmThe spring mullet migration is a prime time to catch a variety of species in South Florida, from tarpon in the Florida Keys to sailfish and dolphin off Miami, and snook, seatrout and redfish in Sebastian. The migration starts in early March and runs through mid-May.

Even the most casual yachtsman often believes that he knows everything necessary to have a great day on the water. However, if you’ve spent time on the water, it’s obvious that too many yachtsmen are confused or unaware of some basic rules about navigation, alcohol use and safety equipment. To help improve boating knowledge and boater safety, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, the U.S. Coast Guard, and a group of public and private boating safety entities are promoting the Spring Aboard – Take a Boating Education Course campaign.

The Spring Aboard campaign is a nationally coordinated effort to get yachtsmen educated in boating safety before the season begins. The campaign facilitates a weeklong heightened awareness component of the year-round campaign, and takes place March 18-24 when many course providers are offering discounts or other incentives for students who enroll or complete a boating safety education course.

“If we can increase the knowledge of the average boater, we can make our waterways significantly safer for recreational boaters,” said Tom Guess, President of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA).

Most states have some form of mandatory education program that encourages or requires a boating education course in person or online. Even when courses are mandatory, many yachtsmen overlook education requirements as the excitement and heat of summer grips them and they head to the water. The goal of the Spring Aboard campaign is to get yachtsmen thinking about education before the warm weather starts pulling people outside.

Statistics tell us that educated boaters have fewer accidents, but convincing boaters to take a course on safe boating habits cannot just be about fear of a catastrophic incident. Boating education is about more than avoiding accidents. Educated boaters are more confident boaters and they are able to enjoy the boating experience much more.

Another challenge that is that activities like boating, fishing and waterskiing are supposed to be fun and relaxing. Nobody wants to think about accident statistics when they think about getting out on the water. “People boat for an escape, so when we talk about the dangers of boating like accidents and fatalities, some people don’t want to listen,” said Guess.

One of the ways the Spring Aboard campaign is encouraging boaters to take a boating safety course is to help make courses affordable for everyone. During the heightened awareness week of the Spring Aboard campaign, March 18-24, many private course providers are offering discounts. BOATsmart! is offering steep discounts on their boating safety courses and BOATERexam.com is offering 50 precent off the price of their courses for the entire week.

“Taking an online course is an easy way to quickly get up to speed on the most important boating knowledge,” said Kerry Moher, Co-founder of Boaterexam.com. “But our course isn’t just convenient, it’s also a lot of fun. We have literally thousands of reviews from boaters telling us how much they enjoyed taking our course.”

Boat-Ed.com is also offering a 50 percent discount on boating safety courses. “Our online courses are better than ever with interactive videos and a true student-centered approach,” said Mitch Strobl of Boat-Ed.com. “Boating education isn’t boring; it’s easy to access and fun.”

For those who want to take a traditional classroom course, you can find classes just about anywhere in America during Spring Aboard week. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is a nationwide organization that offers boating courses in virtually every state. The courses are inexpensive, and often held on the weekends.

“I think we can provide a great service by having experienced boaters answer questions and engage with boaters on a personal level,” said Bill Stolz, Coast Guard Auxiliary member and boating instructor.

Even in states without mandatory education, boaters still have the opportunity to improve upon their knowledge of boating safety. “We offer free classroom courses every month, materials for home study, and four different online courses,” says Josh Hoffman, Boating Safety Education Coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Most states offer similar opportunities through their boating agencies.

This year is the third anniversary of the Spring Aboard campaign. For the last few years, course providers, states and organizations have rolled out the program slowly. This year, the boating community is very excited about getting more people engaged.

“We are seeing a growing audience as the technology improves for course delivery and we get more course providers offering serious discounts for their courses,” said Guess. “Nobody goes boating to get into an accident, fall overboard or hurt themselves. As a boating safety community, we can make a real difference in the everyday experience of boaters on the water, and frankly I’m excited by that.”

With the wide variety of organizations and businesses offering courses, such as the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Sailing, U.S. Power Squadrons, BoatUS Foundation, and numerous private and online course providers, boaters have a wide variety of options when looking to get educated in boating safety. Boaters looking for more information on boating safety courses can contact their state boating agency or find additional information at www.nasbla.org/boatingcourses.

Boaters have access to a growing number of affordable and compact electronic security and monitoring systems designed specifically for boats.

One of the newest is the Nautic-On system from Brunswick Corp, which was introduced at the recent Miami International Boat Show, which sells for as little as $600, plus a $149 annual service fee. Another example is the Siren Marine MTC system, which starts at $599, plus a $180 annual service fee.

The systems are also compact. For example, the waterproof main hub for the Siren MTC is the size and shape of a small paperback book with a snap on/off bracket that makes it easy to add hard-wire sensors. The sensors themselves are even smaller, and many communicate wirelessly with the main hub.

The hub utilizes a built-in GPS for location data and cellular service to communicate information about your boat to an app on your mobile device. This, of course, requires that your boat is within cellular service range.

In the most basic setup, these systems will report the location of your boat, if the boat leaves a designated geo-fence, battery voltage and temperature of the area in which the hub is installed. But the systems allow for expansion with the addition of sensors related to motion, vibration, open hatches and companionways, and more. These let you know if someone has stepped aboard your boat without permission.

You can also connect a second battery monitor, as well as a high-water alarm and your bilge pump to tell you if the boat is taking on water or of the bilge is cycling on.

In addition to mobile alerts, you can be tied in visual and audible on-site alarms, such as the spreader lights and boat horn, when select sensors are triggered. Output terminals can also be used to remotely activate onboard systems such as the air conditioning or bilge pump.

Thanks to mobile, wireless and GPS technology, it’s easier than ever to keep tabs on your boat from afar.

LADSON, S.C. – Spring 2018 Introduction – Available Early April – Like its counterparts in automobiles and electronics, Shimano is constantly evolving its products, and now showcases the ‘next’ in technological advancements in the new Stella FJ reels. The flagship in Shimano’s spinning reel line-up, the five new models – in sizes for everything from trout and panfish, to bass and walleye, to tarpon, stripers and sailfish, include the Stella (STL) 1000FJ, STL-2500HGFJ, STL-C3000XGFJ, STL-4000XGFJ and STL-C5000XGFJ.

“With Stella, anglers around the globe know we are always pursuing perfection,” said Trey Epich with Shimano’s product development team. “As our reel manufacturing abilities evolve and improve almost constantly – the Shimano way – we’re able to share that technology in new reels like the Stella FJ series.”

Shimano’s MicroModule II gear system includes “gear teeth which are designed to the ideal shape to reduce vibration, providing a smoother performing reel,” Epich explains. “We then take smooth rotation to an even higher level with SilentDrive, a long list of micro adjustments and enhancements to reduce any handle play and eliminate any clicking noise in all moving parts.”

Through design theory analysis, Shimano has improved the Stella’s overall durability. “By constantly evolving and constantly improving our technology, we are able to increase the strength of our already exceptionally strong HAGANE gear by 100-percent since the previous Stella reel series upgrade in 2014,” said Epich. “In addition to our standard water repellency treatment, X-Protect features Shimano’s labyrinth design construction that offers exceptional water resistance and prevents water intrusion without sacrificing light gear and rotation feel. Plus there is no anti-reverse switch where water intrusion can cause all kinds of problems, especially when used on saltwater flats and inshore coastal waters.”

Epich notes anglers will appreciate other proven Shimano features on the new Stella FJ spinning reels, including X-Ship, a front drag knob for precision drag adjustments, a ‘Coiled Wave Spring’ for a consistent drag curve, a longer stroke spool design to aid in longer casting distance, a light and strong, corrosion resistant Titanium bail wire, plus a smooth lipped, magnesium MGL rotor design that prevents line form tangling around the main shaft. The line clip will easily secure lines of various sizes, from the thinnest PowerPro braid to large diameter mono.

Perfect for light action and light line use, the 5.1:1 gear ratio Stella 1000FJ brings in 25-inches of line per crank. It holds from 85 yards of 15-pound test standard PowerPro braid, to 140 yards of four-pound mono or fluoro. The STL-2500HGFJ has a 6.0:1 gear ratio retrieving in 35-inches of line per crank, and can 145 yards of 15-pound PowerPro, or 120 yards of 10-pound mono/fluoro.

With the same body size as the 2500 but with larger line capacity – making it ideal for deeper freshwater situations and inshore saltwater use, the STL-C3000XGFJ holds 140 yards of 20-pound PowerPro, or 170 yards of 8-pound mono/fluoro. It will bring in 37-inches of line per rotation with its 6.4:1 gear ratio.

Both retrieving 40-inches per crank with 6.2:1 gear ratios, the STL-4000XGFI 200 will hold 170 yards of 30-pound PowerPro or 200 yards of 10-pound test mono/fluoro – while the large spool capacity/4000 size body Stella-C5000XGFJ can take 200 yards of 30-pound PowerPro, or 195 yards of 12-pound test mono/fluoro.

“Smoother, more efficient, and improved durability – it’s all about ever evolving technology, and our quest for the best,” said Epich. “It will be hard to believe by those who have been attracted to our Stella reels for what is now more than 20 years – but yes, we did make them better.”

For more information on the new Stella FJ spinning reels, see your local tackle dealer – visit the Shimano web site at http://fish.shimano.com – or call Shimano’s product support team at 877/577-0600 (up to 5 pm Pacific Standard Time).

Some years ago, a friend asked me to help deliver his sailboat from Anacortes, Washington, to Seattle, following a late-season cruise in the gorgeous San Juan Islands. The mid-November evening was dark and damp, and our thinly staffed crew was fortified with thickly insulated jackets, Gore-Tex foul-weather gear and piping-hot coffee.

The boat, however, was fairly light on electronics. While she carried a listen-only AIS, we were naked of radar and bereft of a thermal-imaging camera, which are extremely useful on Pacific Northwest waters that are rife with heavy metal (container ships) and deadheads (upturned logs, with their root balls exposed to the water’s surface).

Fortunately, our passage was a cold but quiet one, and while the AIS kept us clear of commercial traffic by quantifiable distances, we had no choice but to trust the big-ocean theory when it came to dodging deadheads.

Our needs would have been different in, say, the sun-kissed ­Bahamas and Caribbean, or if we’d been enjoying the freshwater solitude of the Great Lakes. Most yachts are delivered with a bevy of electronics and sensors, including multifunction displays, GPS receivers, radar and VHF radios, but different itineraries have area-specific hazards, including shifting sandbars (Bahamas and Caribbean), heavy commercial traffic (Great Lakes and Puget Sound) and potentially hull-damaging debris (Pacific Northwest).

These real-world hurdles can be ameliorated with itinerary-specific equipment.

The Bahamas and Caribbean are world-class destinations, but the Bahamas experiences regular shifting sandbars, and the Caribbean has its share of tricky, reef-protected passes in places such as the U.S. Virgin Islands’ St. Croix. Additionally, some of these waters are beyond U.S.-based satellite-weather coverage.

Some weather services focus coverage on the United States, but outside of that footprint, the information isn’t accessible.

The black-box Fax-30, Kunz says, receives its information from shoreside weather stations around the world, with experts editing the weather information. While Kunz cautions that the Fax-30 requires some user knowledge when it comes to determining the best channels, the service is free, and mariners can view the data on a networked PC or Furuno TZtouch2 multifunction display.

Pack Your Big Eyes

Spotting objects and aids to navigation at a distance is key, especially if there’s also commercial traffic, deadheads and tricky navigation. Carry a pair of high-quality, powerful and waterproof marine-specific binoculars that offer a water-resistant lens coating, an integrated and dampened (or digital) compass, a durable and grip-friendly outer body, and high-definition optics. Image stabilization is a plus, as are integrated range finders and positive-flotation straps. Many offerings exist, and brands including Bushnell, Canon, Nikon and Steiner deserve serious attention.

When it comes to plying questionable waters, Jim McGowan, Americas marketing manager at FLIR/Raymarine, says boaters can never have enough high-quality charts from different manufacturers. Bahamas- and Caribbean-bound cruisers can supplement existing cartography with offerings from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and Wavey Line Charts.

“You want a lot of different chart options for the Bahamas and the Caribbean,” McGowan says, adding that Raymarine developed its Lighthouse operating system to display cartography from any manufacturer. “This lets us talk to smaller, boutique chart-makers and give them a pathway to get their PC charts to the Raymarine family.”

Dave Dunn, Garmin’s director of sales and marketing for marine, and Steve Thomas, ­Simrad’s product line director, both say forward-looking sonar is another wise investment, so long as users understand the technology’s range (ballpark 300 to 500 feet) and safe operating speeds (about 5 to 10 knots). As long as users respect these guidelines, forward-looking sonar is a game changer for wending through keel-crunching reefs and dodging sandbars.

The Great Lakes are premier freshwater cruising grounds. However, the myriad cities and towns that punctuate their shorelines portend a heavy volume of commercial shipping. Moreover, the Midwest’s blistering summer weather fuels some of the country’s fiercest electrical storms.

Here, a smart upgrade includes SiriusXM Marine Weather, which uses a black-box receiver to provide graphical information that can be overlaid atop compatible multifunction displays. Users can view current weather, including information on the direction of cells, their speed and whether they contain lightning; NOAA marine forecasts; and proprietary fishing information for anglers. Note, however, that SiriusXM Marine Weather is a graphical-only layer that cannot be used for weather-routing purposes.

In addition to satellite weather information, Kunz points to radar as a critical Great Lakes cruising tool. While a one-radar installation works, a much smoother setup is a large, open-array radar set to long range, and a smaller radar that delivers close-range perform­ance, giving the ­navigator a huge amount of situational awareness without having to share displays or jump ranges.

In questionable waters, yachtsmen can never have enough high-quality charts from different manufacturers.

“Doppler radar is [another] critical tool,” says Kunz, ­adding that, beyond using it to navigate, skippers can also leverage the feature to study the speed and direction of cells. ¶ In terms of dodging Great Lakes commercial traffic, an automatic information system (AIS) transceiver is a prerequisite.

“You want a full Class B transceiver so that both captains don’t make the same mistake at the same time,” Dunn says. McGowan agrees: “If you’re not being seen, you’re not a full AIS participant. It’s great to know that an oncoming bulk carrier can see you.”

While Kunz also agrees, he says a commercial-grade Class A transceiver might be a better choice for a Great Lakes cruise.

“Class B is 2 watts of output, and lots of boaters use cheap or bad antennas, which can drop the transmit power down to less than 1 watt,” he says. “Class A AIS is a full 12.5-watt system.”

With steep hillsides, ­soaring glaciated peaks and old-growth temperate rainforests, the Pacific Northwest offers some of North America’s most dramatic scenery, which only improves the farther north one voyages. While the area’s huge trees are impressive, the downside is that these long-lived monsters regularly end up in navigable waters — either from storms and erosion, or from logging-industry slippage — and are incredibly hard to spot, especially at night or at speed.

Mariners have two options for dealing with these deadheads at night: Subscribe to the big-ocean theory — that is, the thought that two randomly placed, randomly ­maneuvered objects in the ocean are unlikely to collide — or rely on electronics. The tools of choice are thermal-imaging cameras, which render images by using microbolometer sensors that pick out minute thermal differences between objects and their backgrounds, during both nocturnal and diurnal hours. These cameras can buy precious seconds or minutes of reaction time while helping mariners spot other vessels, whales or man-overboard victims. Some of them can automatically find and track targets too, much like a radar’s automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA), or work in tandem with an ARPA-enabled ­radar.

“Thermal imaging gives you a whole new level of situational awareness and lets you run day and night,” says McGowan, noting that FLIR’s thermal-imaging cameras network nicely with ­third-party multifunction displays. “Sometimes the best time to go ­boating starts at 2100 hours.”

A powerful radar system is also a wise investment for Northwest waters, because these instruments can sometimes pick out deadheads and logs at greater ranges than all but the finest fixed-mount thermal-imaging cameras.

Finally, while the Pacific Northwest’s cold waters and relatively warm air temperatures are ideal for thermal-imaging cameras, these same temperatures mean that a man overboard has precious little time before hypothermia is a serious concern. Experts suggest carrying a vessel-registered EPIRB, plus ­properly registered personal locator beacons and AIS beacons for each crew member. They’re the best way to ­notify the authorities and nearby maritime traffic instantly when an emergency unfurls.

There was only one Lefty. So pervasive was his imprint and influence on modern angling that his last name is scarcely necessary in conversation among anglers.

When Bernard “Lefty” Kreh died at his home in Cockeysville, Maryland, March 14, 2018, at 93, fishing in general lost a guiding light and fly fishing in particular, an unmatched champion, teacher and innovator.

Over the course of his career Kreh authored more than 30 books and innumerable magazine articles, as well as appearing in videos, on television and a nearly-constant schedule of public appearances.

A fly pattern of his design, the Deceiver, remains a staple in the fly boxes of fresh and saltwater anglers alike. One of the best-known saltwater patterns of all time, in 1991 the Postal Service commemorated the Lefty’s Deceiver with a postage stamp.

But most of all he’ll be remembered for the thousands of fly-casters whose game he elevated, beginners and seasoned hands alike, to which he offered advice and coaching, usually with an always-ready joke or quip, many of which are repeatable in polite company.

Kreh was born February 26, 1925, in Frederick, Maryland. As a young man, after military service, he gained substantial renown on his home waters fishing smallmouth bass on the Potomac. He soon came to the attention of Joe Brooks, iconic angler and writer to a prior generation, who introduced him to fly-fishing in 1947.

Kreh began his career as an outdoor writer for the Frederick News-Post, as well as numerous magazines, and later served a stint running the Metropolitan South Florida Fishing Tournament.

In 1972 he returned to Maryland as the Outdoor Editor for the Baltimore Sun, from which he retired after 18 years.

Retirement only freed him to do more of what he did best: entertain, instruct and continue to expand possibilities in modern fly fishing.

Shortly after returning to Maryland, in 1974 he published two seminal books: Fly Casting with Lefty Kreh and Fly Fishing in Salt Water.

Fly Casting with Lefty Kreh introduced a then-radical approach to fly-casting that re-defined the fundamentals, codifying the mechanics incorporating technical advancements in tackle materials such as glass and graphite rods, eclipsing the British traditions in fly casting that had long-dominated instruction and practice.

Fly Fishing in Salt Water introduced anglers to a new aspect of the sport, which was rapidly developing and gaining popularity, and it remains a valuable primer today.

He retired from a constant schedule of appearances, activities and fishing adventures in 2017.

In a public letter disseminated via email in October of that year, Kreh announced his health would no longer allow him to follow the active schedule that he’d maintained for decades. He explained he had plenty of projects at home, and true to form, that he was “busier than a Syrian bricklayer.”

In closing, he said:

I’m busy and content but I want you to know I am so appreciative you’ve have shared your lives with me.

All The Best, Friends,Lefty

To which we can only add, “Likewise, Lefty.”

Lefty Kreh held a masthead position with Salt Water Sportsman from 1990 until his retirement in 2017.